Services

We help everyday families tackle life’s financial challenges. No matter which stage you are at on your financial journey, we’re here to help. All of our services are tailored to you and your unique financial circumstances, needs and wants.

Services

We help everyday families tackle life’s financial challenges. No matter which stage you are at on your financial journey, we’re here to help. All of our services are tailored to you and your unique financial circumstances, needs and wants.

CARE Investment Philosophy

At My Wealth Solutions, we believe in helping everyday families grow and protect their wealth. That’s why our CARE Investment Philosophy is designed to work in the real world, where negative investor behaviour is the biggest risk to your investment portfolio.

Not happy with your current investment strategy? CARE was made for you.

Grow and protect your wealth with the help of our CARE Investment Philosophy.

What does CARE stand for?

Core Investments includes a mix of multi-sector and multi-managed funds that form the base of your portfolio. This part of your portfolio includes a strategic mix of Australian shares and bonds, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), Index Funds, overseas shares and bonds, property and other income-producing assets.

Active Investments forms a part of our philosophy where we attempt to do the opposite of what most people do. When a market gets ahead of their long-term average, we remove you from that market and move your investment allocation to cash. When markets are under their long-term averages, we then take that cash and invest fully again.

The Reserves aspect of our philosophy means that we keep 4 years – if you’re retired, or 2 if you’re not – worth of your spending needs in cash, term deposits and low volatility investments. This aspect of your portfolio is focused on reducing the likelihood of you having to sell your assets if the market experiences a decline.

As a CARE investor you’ll have access to these exclusive services:

Economic Updates

As a CARE member, you’ll receive quarterly CARE economic updates from Emmanuel Calligeris, the Chairman of the CARE Investment Committee.

Annual Lunch

All CARE members are invited to an annual lunch briefing. During this meeting, you’ll be able to meet with the investment committee members face-to-face and ask any questions you may have.

Seminars

As part of the CARE dedication to keeping you actively involved in the investment process, all CARE members will receive access to regular Investing With CARE seminars.

Half Yearly Updates

CARE members with over $1 million invested will receive a personal invitation to CARE half-yearly updates with the committee.

Meet the CARE Investment Committee

Emmanuel Calligeris

Emmanuel is the Chairman of the CARE Investment Committee and holds a degree in economics and previously had 20 years’ experience as Chief Investment Officer for OnePath Investments, responsible for $13 billion of funds under management.

Rob McGregor

Rob was a founder of GPS Wealth, developed the CARE Investment Philosophy over the last 15 years and successfully managed $100m in clients’ funds during the GFC.

Grahame Evans

Grahame is the Risk and Compliance member of the CARE Investment Committee. Grahame brings over 35 years of financial service industry experience.

Dr. Mark Brimble

Mark is an independent member of the CARE Investment Committee. Mark holds a doctorate in capital markets and is keenly interested in investor behaviour.

Clear, defined financial goals should form the basis of any investment decision. Whether you’re saving for a house, building a nest-egg for retirement or just want to maximise your retirement income, defining exactly why you want to invest will help us to choose the right investment options for you.

In our experience, neither speculating – otherwise known as the process of buying an asset in the hope that the price will go up and you will make a profit – nor saving are investment strategies.

Investing is buying an asset while planning to enjoy the income generated from that asset. If the investment is a good one, made after thoroughly researching how it meets your unique financial goals, then the income and asset value will grow. You can then reinvest this income to grow your wealth.

For most of us, our investment time frame should be the rest of our life. But in a practical sense, we define long-term investing generally as 5 to 7 years. By simply buying assets, which are known as passive assets, you will be able to build your wealth without being actively involved.

Active investments, which include renovating a property or buying a business, have the ability to produce much higher returns than passive assets but they also come with a much higher chance of losing all your money.

Both shares and property produce an income, shares through dividends and property through rent. Both also form important cornerstones of your overall investment strategy. Shares and property generally grow in value if they are well selected and can be held directly or through managed investments.

As professional financial advisors, we have more time, resources, education and experience in selecting and managing your investment portfolio. Creating and growing a healthy investment portfolio can be a complicated task, with questions like what to buy, when to buy, how to value and when to sell is only the beginning.

Having a team of expert financial advisors on your side means that every investment decision you make will be based on comprehensive research and tailored to your unique needs.

But shares also have one downside: they frequently fluctuate in value. This is perfectly normal and something to be expected as a shareholder. When held for the long-term and appropriately diversified, shares consistently deliver a strong return when compared to other types of passive investments.

Although many try, it’s impossible to predict the short-term movements of the share market. That’s why we focus on long-term buy and hold for our core investments, which deliver good returns to investors and make the timing of markets unnecessary.

This philosophy also works for those with large amounts of cash to be invested, who may find it easier to place those investments over a period of time rather than in one lump sum. This means you’ll be able to avoid the pitfalls of investing at a market high in favour of receiving a steady average return over a period of time.

Although property will generally grow slightly less than shares, banks will continue to lend up to 90% to you so that you can build wealth more rapidly while using leverage to buy property. But this strategy also comes with increased risk.

In retirement, when you will have hopefully paid off your debts, property tends to generate less income and have more costs to maintain it than other investments. Because of this, a retirement strategy based on residential property alone will require significantly more assets than if diversified across other assets.

If you ask anyone who has owned a property for 20 or 30 years, they will generally say that it was an expensive purchase at the time but now seems cheap by comparison. For example, the median price of a residential property in Brisbane in 1985 was $61,550 according to the ABS.

In theory, diversification means not putting all of your eggs in one basket. In practice, it involves holding a wide variety of investments across different sectors and within those sectors across different asset types, countries and investment managers.

Diversification helps you reach the returns you need to achieve your long-term goals with the least amount of risk possible. This enables you to avoid stress and lowers the risk of making bad decisions when markets inevitably fluctuate.

Planning helps you understand your current position and define your goals. It also helps you to decide where you want to be and which steps you need to take to get there. Overall, it provides a clear focus for the many financial decisions that will need to be made.

Strategy is all about investing intelligently to meet your specific financial goals. Strategy can help with everything from deciding who should own an investment to more complex issues like gearing or using superannuation effectively. Together, planning and strategy can help you grow your wealth and meet your short, medium and long-term goals.

Many people choose not to invest because they think they don’t have enough money. In fact, the opposite is true as the only way to achieve wealth (aside from winning or inheriting it) is to invest. It is never too late to start investing and no amount is too small. Long-term investing of small amounts, combined with solid compound returns, is the right way to grow your wealth.

This is one of our fundamental beliefs and serves as a philosophy that underpins how we advise our clients.

For those that are looking for exciting money, speculative advice or short-term market timing, we cannot provide adequate investment advice as it contradicts this fundamental investment belief. However, we may be able to advise on planning or strategy.

– There are many factors to consider when you’re looking at buying a residential investment property. To make sure that you’re choosing the right investment for your unique financial circumstances, here are a few things to consider:

It is better to choose an investment property in an area with a dense population to ensure a greater chance of rental income and tenant occupancy. An Australian capital city that has not recently had a property boom is a great place to start looking.

When it comes to maximising capital growth, the closer to an Australian capital city CBD you can buy, the better. Within 5 to 10 kilometres of a CBD is ideal, while you should avoid property further than 100 kilometres from a CBD.

You should plan on holding your property for the long-term, or at least 10+ years. Investing for income and capital growth is a much better strategy than investing for tax benefits or for the short or medium terms.

A new property will have less maintenance costs, can attract higher rental yields and will enable higher depreciation and building amortisation deductions. An older property may be purchased at a lower cost and may be better value for money, but those approaching retirement will need to be aware of higher maintenance costs.

Whenever you can: favour houses over units and units over studios as the land size is generally larger when it comes to capital growth and rental incomes are usually higher.

Choose property that is close to the CBD, shopping centers, schools, public transport, restaurants, parks and gyms.

When it comes to the details of actually buying an investment property, you have 4 broad options to consider:

Do it yourself: some people enjoy searching for and buying properties themselves. Others, however, find the process overwhelming or simply don’t have the time.

Use local real estate agents: much like buying a home, you can use local real estate agents to help you in finding an investment property. You can provide them with a list of your requirements, such as budget, rent yield, etc. and then pick from the properties they show you.

Use a buyer’s agent: your team of financial advisors can work directly with a buyer’s agent to help you find your ideal property. A buyer’s agent is a licensed real estate professional who legally acts on the behalf of the purchaser. We provide your requirements to them and they search for a property that ticks all of your boxes.

Use a property research company: we can also assist you by introducing you to a property research company. These companies are licensed real estate agents who are authorised to sell properties to you. The properties they have available are usually new properties sourced directly from developers.

Property research companies have unique research processes that enable them to identify properties that best meet their investment criteria and your requirements. They can also provide an expert opinion on the best locations to buy properties.

My Wealth Solutions are the first financial advisers I have found that consider your entire financial position. They are not focused on one product or investment type, rather they are focused on finding the right financial solution for your current situation. I am looking forward to working with Ben and his team over the coming years.

James C.

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL

I contacted Ben Budge to provide a holistic review of our financial position, including investments, superannuation and retirement planning. Ben provided a summary of our financial goals, along with how our strategies aligned with those objectives…which was great for motivating us to make some changes…I would consider Ben to be very professional and friendly, and I’d recommend him to anyone seeking to secure their financial and retirement planning.

Ian J.

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL

My experience with Guy Freeman has been totally professional and totally satisfactory. Guy has managed my small investments but maintained at the same time a personal interest in my health and well being… I have to say that I have complete trust in Guy and am so pleased he is looking after my investments giving me a secure future.

Jennette B.

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL

I was recommended Guy Freeman’s help with planning my financial future, and am very satisfied and reassured by his input over the last couple of years. I’ve actually received more input than I thought possible…sound investments; making a will, life insurance, income protection insurance, and realistic plans for retirement… I feel ‘looked after’ by this company, and excited about my financial future.

Jack H.

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL

Guy…was also the most helpful and friendly of all the advisors. The quick responses and helpful, friendly advise has been a mainstay of our dealings with Guy and MWS. We have been very satisfied with the financial advice given. They helped us to consider matters like income protection, super funds and life insurance that we had very little knowledge about. Guy has also been able to give us a focus for our savings and investments going forward into the future.

Brendan N.

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL

MWS have been great, they got our super sorted out and made sure our insurances are in tip-top shape if anything were to happen. I highly recommend their services to anyone who hasn’t put any time or thought into their financial strategy for the short and long term.

Dan S.

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL

…They have provided my partner and I peace of mind that our future is more secure especially with a baby on the way. Our super is working for us rather than the big companies…and they have put a smart financial strategy in place that meets our life goals. I have recommended MWS to many of my friends and will to anyone new as I am confident that they conduct themselves in the best interest of their clients.

Katrina M.

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL

Guy has been most helpful from the first meeting and still continues to ensure I am kept in the loop with everything in regard to my financial position. Guy sorted my super and has ensured my insurances are relevant to my current position. Highly recommend MWS.

Scott H.

award winning and highly recommended

Want to know more about the CARE Philosophy?

CARE is designed from the ground up to help you and your family achieve your financial goals with ease.

My Wealth Solutions Pty Ltd ABN 66 153 751 832 is a Corporate Authorised Representative of GPS Wealth Ltd | AFSL 254 544 Australian Credit Licence 254 544 ABN 17 005 482 726
General Advice Warning The information provided on this website has been provided as general advice only. We have not considered your financial circumstances, needs or objectives and you should seek the assistance of your GPS Wealth Ltd (GPS) Adviser before you make any decision regarding any products mentioned in this communication. Whilst all care has been taken in the preparation of this material, no warranty is given in respect of the information provided and accordingly neither GPS nor its related entities, employees or agents shall be liable on any ground whatsoever with respect to decisions or actions taken as a result of you acting upon such information.